Five ex-ministers still cabinet members on FG’s N64m website

Five former ministers are still listed as members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet on the website of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation many months after they resigned their appointments to pursue different ambitions.

The names of the five former ministers and their former portfolios were still listed on the website, www.osgf.gov.ng., when our correspondent checked it on Thursday.

The SGF, Boss Mustapha, had in May 2018 unveiled the website which was upgraded with N64m.

The former ministers who are still on the list include Kemi Adeosun, (Finance); Kayode Fayemi, (Solid Minerals Development); Aisha Al-Hassan, (Women Affairs and Social Development); Khadija Abba-Ibrahim, (Minister of State for Foreign Affairs); and Ibrahim Jibril, (Minister of State for Environment).

They were listed in the “Political Appointees” section of the website under the title “Portfolios of ministers, special advisers, senior special assistants, and special assistants to the President.”

Although there is a column designed for the date of resignation in case the public officials had left the government, this has not been updated to reflect the current status of the five former ministers when our correspondent checked on Thursday.

Apart from the former ministers, a former Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives), Suleiman Kawu, is still on the list of the government appointees.

Kawu resigned in 2018 to contest the House of Representatives election in Kano State, which he won.

Adeosun resigned her appointment as Minister of Finance on September 14, 2018 at the peak of a scandal that followed the revelation that her National Youth Service Corps exemption certificate was forged.

Her name still appeared as No. 7 on the list of Nigerian ministers on the website.

Fayemi, who is now the Ekiti State Governor, resigned as Minister of Solid Minerals Development on May 30, 2018 to enable him to contest the governorship position.

Despite his current position as the governor of his state, he is still listed as No. 13 and representative of his state in Buhari’s cabinet.

Al-Hassan resigned her appoint as Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, and her membership of the ruling All Progressives Congress after she was screened out of the party’s governorship primary in her state, Taraba.

She is still listed as No. 20 on the list of ministers.

Abba-Ibrahim resigned her appointment as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in 2018 to contest House of Representatives election in Yobe State which he won.

Her name is still occupying No. 28 on the list of ministers.

Jibril, on his part, resigned his appointment as Minister of State for Environment in December 2018 to become the 13th Emir of Nasarawa.

He still occupies No. 34 on the list of ministers.

Zainab Ahmed, who Buhari has named as Adeosun’s replacement in the Ministry of Finance, is still occupying her position as the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning on the list.

Also, Aisha Abubakar, who had since been named the Supervising Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, still maintains her position as the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investments.

While inaugurating the website on May 21, 2018, the SGF had put the cost of the upgrading, which he said, included procurement of laptops, training of officials and consultancy services, at N64m

The Federal Government had allocated N64m for the project in the 2017 budget.

“There was a contract in 2017. The figure is in the public domain. It is about N64m, including procurement of laptops, training and consultancy services.

“The contract was awarded by the Bureau of Public Procurement in accordance with the Procurement Act,” Mustapha had said when he was asked the cost of the upgrade.